FTC ends Intel antitrust probe

The US Federal Trade Commission has ended its antitrust investigation of Intel Corp. During the three-year inquiry, the chipmaker had agreed to share intellectual property with Compaq Computer, Digital Equipment Corp. and Intergraph Corp., in return for their agreement not to try to block Intel's sale of the disputed products. Intel's decision, this summer, to license third-party chipset makers to support Pentium III and Celeron MPUs reportedly helped the FTC decide to drop its probe for anti-competitive behavior.